PIA Press Release2005/08/22

Leyte Comelec belies Tabayoyong fraud claim

MAASIN CITY (22 August) -- The provincial office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has not received any complaint anywhere around the province regarding a dirty copy of election return (ER).

This was the reaction of a Comelec employee when reached for comment on a published report in the August 18, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), which quoted a former NBI official as saying that an ER Bontoc, Southern Leyte, was filled with stains in violation of Comelec rules.

The employee explained that the stains may be caused by careless writing due to fatigue in the carbonized ER form where the poll clerk or teacher has to fill up several copies, at least seven, and not necessarily a clear case of tampering.

The employee, who declined to be identified, wanted also to know the degree, the extent of stain, to determine whether or not it constitutes violation of Comelec ruling.

It was also necessary to know if all the other copies were similarly stained as the copy in Tabayoyong's hands.

But it was not specified in the PDI report which precinct out of Bontoc's 40 barangays was Tabayoyong tried to raise an issue on dirtiness, while in other unspecified precincts in other places he also questioned ER's that are clean. (PIA) [top]